Magic Moms

This is what I made for dinner a couple nights ago:

It was kind of stressful actually. Do you ever wonder how moms magically can have all of the food done at exactly the same moment? I want to know their secret, because I am certainly not pro at this. 

I battered and fried the chicken myself, which was a big step up from the frozen chicken patties in our freezer. It was more work than I anticipated, to dip the chicken first in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. But it tasted delicious. Only the chicken was done like a good 10-15 minutes before the spaghetti was done, so it was cold by the time we ate it. But hey, at least it was still crispy. 

I decided to be double adventurous with this meal and make my own marinara sauce too! I don't know why I thought this would be a good idea. The sauce tasted pretty darn good actually, but was kind of chunky. And by chunky I mean large pieces of cooked down tomato. Guess I better chop up the tomatoes better next time. I used one 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and added that to a jar of home-canned tomatoes. My mom and I spent a good 4 or 5 hours canning tomatoes a couple weeks ago. Now our labor is paying off. After the tomatoes cooked down a little I just added a packet of spaghetti seasoning and presto-change-o! Spaghetti sauce!

I underestimated the time it would take for the noodle-water to boil. It was not even steaming when the sauce and chicken were done. Luckily I kept the sauce warm on the stove while waiting for the water. 

So in the end the meal was tasty and quite lovely looking (minus the unimpressive-looking canned green beans). Some day I will master the art of having all the food cooked at the same time. Maybe I can't do it yet because I am not a mother. I guess only time will tell. Bon-Apetit!